The Cleveland Browns benched Joe Flacco after a 1-3 start to the 2025 season. Flacco, the veteran quarterback, threw six interceptions in four games, with the offense averaging just 14 points per game. Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced the decision, citing the need for a spark. Flacco, previously the starter, now shifts to a backup role behind the new quarterback.
Instead of Shedeur Sanders, the Browns named rookie Dillon Gabriel as the starter. Gabriel, a third-round pick from Oregon, impressed in training camp. Meanwhile, Sanders, a fifth-round pick from Colorado, remains a QB3 for the Browns. Gabriel gets his first NFL start against the Minnesota Vikings in London on Sunday. But here’s the thing, not everyone is happy about that decision, certainly not Sanders.
Shedeur Sanders recently went viral for his mime response to Browns naming Dillon Gabriel as the starting QB instead of him. When reporters asked Sanders about his thoughts on the starting QB role given to Gabriel, he simply used mime as his response, meaning using an acting technique of conveying a story, or emotions, or idea, without use of speech. Or simply put, Sanders decided to keep his words to himself, not uttering a single word.
Looking at the way Sanders decided to address the media, ESPN’s NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky went off on Sanders. “I don’t think there is a time and place to act like that as a quarterback. I think everything you do as a quarterback… is a job interview. Every single thing you do. My question to Shedeur would be, ‘are you helping yourself in your own building?’… Did you help yourself outside of your own building?”
“There are 64 spots in that spot in the NFL. Did that 30 or 40 seconds helped you at all when it comes to your future there or your elsewhere. And when you’re a later round draft pick, every single thing that you do has to be from the lens of how do I make myself more appealing to the people in this building that’s saying give that guy a chance.”
If you have not caught on to the latest drama, recently when Sanders was asked whether he was confident enough to be a starter, he response was, if given the chance, he could play better than what the QB play has been in the league so far.
This led to backlash from another ESPN analyst Rex Ryan who, on ESPN’s Get Up, said “This kid talks. He runs his mouth like he’s a I could be a starting quarterback with his arms crossed like this,” said Ryan, who continued to torch Sanders’ words, “Get your *** in the front row and study and do all that. If I know the whole league knows. Quit being an embarrassment that way. You got the talent to be the quarterback. You should be embarrassed that you’re not the quarterback now.”
The clip of Rex Ryan’s message to Sanders went viral and we believe that Sanders came across the clip, ultimately leading to the mime response.
The QB drama seems to be endless in Cleveland and all eyes will be on Dillon Gabriel who was chosen as the starting QB for Week 5 against Vikings at London.
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